Wall-paper printing



Aug. 10 1926'; 4 1,595,833 I R. N. G RAVES v WALL PAPER PRINTING Filed May 7. 1926 T1 INVENTOR- ROBERT N. GRAVES A TTORNEVS Federated Aug. 10,

UNi'itiD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT N. GRAVES, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGITOB TO BAECK WALL PAPER COMPANY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORIPORATION OF NEW' YORK.

WALL-PAPER PRINTING.

Application fi1ed May 7,

My invention relates to wall paper printing, and particularly to the printing of scenic wall papers by rotary printing machines. Wall. papers of this class carry designs which are not only of considerable lateral extent (say eight to twelve feet), but also are commonly of such vertical extent that they reach from the base board or wainscotting to the ceiling, frieze, molding, or the like. Scenic papers of this type are commonly printed at great expense by hand, by the block system, since heretofore it has not been considered possible to produce scenic papers upon rotary printing machines.

By my invention scenic paper may he successfully produced upon a cylinder printing machine.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic representat on of a cut type-sheet for a multi-strip deslgn prepared for printing on a cylinder ma chine; and

Fig. 2 is a perspective of a printing cylinder to which one portion of the type-sheet has been applied.

Scenic wall paper may eomprlse a series of vertically arranged strips, properly uxtaposed to form a single repeat of the multi-strip design. In a large repeat the de sign may require as many as eight or ten strips. F or the sake of illustration I have indicated a four-strip repeat, the several portions of the design 5 being carried by the four independent type-strips 1, 2, 3, 4.

To print a design of this longitudinal eX- tcnt from a single type-sheet and upon a single paper web of a width equal to the repeat, is not only impracticable from the standpoint of the printer, but also from the standpoint of the merchant and paper hanger, since a sheet of such dimensions could not be conveniently shipped, stored and dis played, nor could it be handled with facility, or applied to the wall in a workmanlike manner.

It is necessary to divide the design into a series of sections, each strip of which may be readily printed, merchandized, handled and hung.

To this end I prepare a type-sheet for the complete design and cut the same into a number of sections, each having a width which corresponds, approximately, to the desired width the wall paper strip. The

1926'. Serial No. 107,394.

several sections of the type-sheet are then each printed in a cylinder machine on continuous web material, a succession of impressions from each section being made upon the web. While it may be possible to print from the type sections simultaneously on independent cylinders, I have found from practical experience that this is practically impossible, since the variations between different machines prevent accurate registry between the adjacent sections of the design in the finished product. This difficulty is eliminated if the several sections of the type-sheet are successively applied to a single printing cylinder, each being independently printed therefrom on continuous web material.

To carry out the printing in this fashion, a section of the type-sheet is applied as at 6 to a printing cylinder 7, and series of impressions are taken upon a continuous web of paper.- After a suflicient number of im pressions has been taken, this type section is removed and replaced by another of the type sections, from which printing in a simi lar manner is now effected upon another portion of the same continuous web or upon a new web. Similar steps are followed with respect to the remaining sections of the typesheet. All of the sections of the design are thus printed from a single cylinder, and under like printing conditions. Perfect registry of the elements of the design on the various webs is thus assured.

While the type sections are preferably formed by preparing a single type-sheet for the complete design, thereafter dividing the sheet into as many sections as may be necessary, depending upon the width of the paper strips to be printed, it is possible to form each of the type-sheet sections separately.

The particular character of the printing, whether in one or more colors, does not enter into my invention and may be varied to meet the requirements of the design and of the trade. My invention provides av practical method of printing scenic papers of the multi-strip design type, upon cylinder machines. So far as I am aware this has not heretofore been accomplished in spite of the demand for papers of this class, and the high price which they bring on the market.

With the understanding that the method may be varied in its details Without depart= in from my underlying conception, I claim,

1. The method of printing a multi-strip design on wall paper or the like, which comprises preparing a series of type-sheets, one for each strip-portion of the design, applying said type-sheets successively to the same printing cylinder, and printing from each type-sheet so applied a succession of impressions on continuous web material.

2. Th method of printing a multi-strip design on wall paper or the like, which comprises preparing a type-sheet of the complete design, cut-ting the same into a plurality of type-sheets, one for each strip, printing from said type-sheets in rotary print- 

